


Reason Enough

by aeruh



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, also entirely self-indulgent, sorry - Freeform, this story is nothing but fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 16:17:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15688959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeruh/pseuds/aeruh
Summary: The wars is over; the Empire has fallen, and peace has spread throughout the universe. Team Voltron ends up staying on Earth, and somehow Keith finds someone he wants to add to his found family that he’s grown to love.





	Reason Enough

**Author's Note:**

> I ended up writing this before season 7 was released, because I was pretty sure it would end up tearing my heart out and I was right. So I wanted to make myself feel better by writing something sweet. 
> 
> (In which Keith finds an orphan alien and ends up adopting her because the writer is a sucker for that kind of stuff.)

Being back on Earth was strange. There were _so many people._ Gods, was it—was it always this crowded? So full to the brim that it seemed impossible for Keith to still be able to breathe the fresh air and walk without brushing shoulders with passing strangers. 

He still managed to anyway, somehow. It was bewildering. 

Logically, Keith knew the planet was more populated than it was when they left. After the war, Earth became a sort of refugee planet. Much like Olkarion, Earth took in those that had no home to go back to. It turns out that the majority of the universe was eager to see where the Paladins of Voltron were born and lived before they went off to space. And the planet was still terribly behind in the terms of technology and science. Mankind had a lot of catching up to do. It meant plenty of job opportunities. 

So yes, the planet did have plenty of new inhabitants. But Keith also knew that part of the reason why it overwhelmed him so much was because he wasn’t used to it. During the war, Team Voltron visited plenty of worlds. They liberated more than Keith could ever keep track of. The victories were celebrated with parties and feasts in their honor. Some lasted a night, some lasted days, and during those times it was always crowded. In the end, though, they always returned to the ship, and it was always just the seven of them in a castle capable of housing an entire city with ease. 

Keith was always more of a loner. Being on the ship just made it easier to find solitude. Now they were back home, surrounded by other people at any given moment. Days and nights were clear and apparent. When Keith looked out a window he saw the horizon, not an endless spread of nothingness and stars. 

Everything was different on Earth. Keith didn’t know how he was able to endure it before they found the Blue Lion.

At the moment, he was walking through the streets of a busy downtown. It was the first time in weeks that he’d been able to find some time on his own; with the war over and a new era of peace beginning, the press was eager to get interviews with all five of the Paladins, Allura and Coran, and Keith’s mother. 

Not only that, but everyone was looking to them for answers. That form of government would rise up and restore order? _Would_ any? What was the universe going to do now? Where was everyone going to go?

It was difficult. It was stressful. Allura was royalty and Coran was her family’s advisor, but they were from ten thousand years in the past and only knew so much. 

It was a week before things started to let up, but the Garrison kept them behind doors for ages after for security measures. The team only got the go-ahead earlier that morning to leave the Garrison, and Keith practically ran outside the first chance he got. 

People were looking at him still, though. He could hear bits of conversations that involved his name and the words “Voltron” and “Paladin” and sometimes “Galra.” He was trying not to let it bother him; this sort of stuff happened all the time on other planets. But there was something different about it happening on Earth. Keith always felt he was different when he was younger, but that was before he learned about his Galra heritage. Before Earth knew. Now the entire planet was well-aware. It bothered him more than he liked to let on.

Every once in a while, someone—be it an alien or a human—would run up and try to speak to him. The few brave souls would shake his hand, ask to take a picture with him, and run off. But most of them just stood and stared and talked amongst themselves. 

Keith avoided making eye contact with all of them. He looked over their heads instead, sweeping his gaze from left to right. Surveying and making sure that things were safe. The war was over—Keith didn’t have any need to be on high alert now, but it was something that he would probably never be able to let go of. It had been ingrained in his mind for years. Anything could happen. 

In the end, though, Keith’s awareness was probably what changed his life forever that day. Things never would have happened the way they did if he wasn’t paying such close attention.

The streets were so crowded Keith almost didn’t see her—she was tiny and hidden in the sea of pedestrians, clinging to the side of a building in the shadow of a trash can. 

She wasn’t human; six pairs of lilac eyes stared at the ground and her skin was lemon-yellow. Four arms were wrapped around herself, like she would fall apart if she let go. Keith knew how that felt. 

Keith changed course from the shop at the end of the street for the trash can. 

Things might have changed since Keith was on Earth last; the planet may be a beacon of hope for the rest of the universe. They were doing everything they could to better the lives of those on the planet’s surface, moving forward after an era of bloodshed that lasted several lifetimes over, but still, things fall through the cracks. 

You can’t save all of them—Keith understood that now well enough. There were always people that got left behind. That everyone else forgot about. He used to be one of them. 

Keith didn’t want the little alien girl hiding in a crowd to be one of them, too. 

Strangers were still staring, but Keith didn’t care anymore. As soon as he stood at her feet, the girl looked up. Her eyes were watery and two antennae sprouting from the top of her head quivered, breaking through vivid-red hair. 

“I didn’t do nothing,” she said, the translator dangling from Keith’s ear made it possible for him to understand her language. “I didn’t steal anything or hurt anyone, promise.” 

Her words were drenched in fear. It hurt to listen to, and Keith dropped down to his knees to make himself seem less threatening. He never was much good with kids; he was always afraid of doing the wrong thing. But he remembered being afraid when he was little, and the words he wished someone had told him when he was alone.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Nobody is going to hurt you,” Keith said. It was a promise. “Where are your parents? Do you—do you have any?”

“My moms are gone,” the girl told him. She bit her bottom lip to keep from crying, and it was one of the most painful things Keith had witnessed since the Blue Lion tore him away from Earth and launched him into space.

Keith ran a hand through his hair. “Is there anyone else with you?” 

He knew the answer already.

“No. Jus’ me.”

She sniffled, and one of her arms reached up to brush away some stray tears. The water left tracks on her cheeks. Keith sat still while she regained as much composure as she could, and then he held a gloved hand out to her. The girl looked at it like it might bite.

“Do you know who I am?”

Her eyes left his palm to sweep over his face instead. She took in his hair, the scar on his face, and the red jacket he was never able to get himself to part with even after all these years. Keith waited. If she was really alone, it was entirely possible she’d never seen him on the broadcasts before—

“You’re… you’re one of them. With the lions. Voltron.”

Keith smiled. He didn’t mean to; it just came naturally. “That’s right,” he said. “My name’s Keith. I lost my parents when I was little, too. If you come with me, I can help you find some place to stay. I promise you’ll be safe.”

There it was again; a promise. Before their house burned down when he was a kid, Keith’s dad promised they would go stargazing the next night. Promises were easy to make and even easier to break. He knew to handle them with care. Keith wasn’t going to let this one shatter like the rest, 

The alien girl eyed him warily, and he could see the gears turning in her mind. But he was a Paladin of Voltron. Keith played a major hand in bringing peace to the universe. She knew that much, at least, and in the end it must have been enough to win her over. Slowly, she reached out one tiny hand and rested it in his palm.

“My name’s Solreea.” Her fingers curled around his hand as best they could, and Keith helped her to her feet. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” Keith said, grateful for the many times he’d had to introduce himself to other aliens during the war. “Let’s go get you something to eat and a place to stay, okay?”

——

When Keith said “place to stay,” he didn’t necessarily mean his own quarters back at the Garrison, but you know, sometimes things just happen that way. 

His quarters weren’t unlike an apartment. He had his own bedroom, a tiny kitchen, an even tinier bathroom, and a living room. The last of those consisted mostly of a sofa, a cheap coffee table, and a tv mounted onto the wall. At the moment the television was playing some cartoon that kids apparently liked these days, and the sofa was occupied by a tiny child with a mess of red hair.

Keith had taken Solreea back to the Garrison with him. He figured they would know what to do. But they couldn’t find any missing person files (no big surprise there.) There weren’t any orphanages trying to find a six-eyed girl. She didn’t vanish from any foster home. 

_“I don’t know what to tell you,” the Garrison officer said when he looked up from his computer. “You could send her to an orphanage, or maybe—”_

_Keith cut him off without thinking. “No.”_

_“I—I’m sorry?”_

_“She’s not going there,” Keith said. That was a fact. He was as sure of it as he was about being the Red Paladin._

_“What’ll you do with her?” the man chuckled jokingly. “Keep her?”_

_Silence. Keith didn’t answer. He frowned instead, turning his gaze to the tiled floor and putting a hand under his chin. Ideas had been planted in his mind and they were growing like a weed. At his feet, Solreea has been watching the conversation bounce back and fourth. She had a vice-like grip on three of his fingers, and only tightened it when he went quiet. But never once did she say anything._

_If Keith hadn’t looked away, he would have seen the officer go white as a sheet._

_“Oh, no,” he said shakily. “No. No way. Iverson will kill me—”_

_“Have someone send over a uniform her size,” Keith told him simply. “I’m taking her to my quarters.”_

_Once Keith managed to get Solreea a change of clothes, she bathed and dressed in the usual orange-and-white uniform that was standard for the Garrison. Someone had cut extra holes in the sides for her two other limbs, and it was baggy. But she seemed content to wave around the two arms that were in sleeves. The hem of went way past her fingertips and smacked her in the face a few times, and it would make her smile._

_Watching her made something in Keith’s chest feel warm. Like he had swallowed hot soup too fast._

_After digging around the bathroom cabinet for decapheebs, Keith managed to find a comb. She stood patiently still while he untangled her hair as gently as he could, and tied it back with one of his own black bands._

_Solreea hadn’t said anything since she told Keith her name. There were questions at the tip of Keith’s tongue—how did she get to Earth? Who were her parents? How did she wind up alone in the streets? But he knew he was playing a dangerous game. If he pushed her, he could wind up driving Solreea away. Keith had to win her trust first, and he realized it was something he desperately wanted to have._

_“You’re probably hungry,” Keith said after a while._

_Solreea watched him walk into the tiny kitchen, but didn’t say anything. He dug around in the pantry to try to find anything suitable to feed her._

_“We have, uh… pancake mix. Do you like pancakes? Can your species eat them?”_

_“...I like pancakes,” Solreea said slowly. Hesitantly. “Didn’t have them on Eulcaria.”_

_Eulcaria. Keith heard the planet name before, but he couldn’t remember anything else. Oh well. That answered one question, at least._

_“I’ll make pancakes, then,” Keith decided. He wasn’t the best cook—not by a long shot. But all he needed was the mix and some water, so that made it easy._

_Hunk would have loved to jump in and help, and Keith didn’t doubt he would if he asked. But Keith wanted to keep this to himself, just for a little. Just until things calmed down. They could wait._

_He managed to find a mixing bowl and got to work._

Hours later, and there they were. The cooking went as well as Keith could’ve hoped. He only spilled a little of the pancake mix on the counter and somehow didn’t get any of it in his hair, which was a miracle. But next time Keith would have to actually read the instructions on the back of the package, because he made twice as much as they needed. At least it meant leftovers for later.

When Keith set the plate of pancakes down in front of her, she eyed them like they were dangerous. But it only lasted for a split second until Keith offered her the bottle of syrup, and she drowned them in the stuff and dove in. 

(Keith was glad he tied her hair back. She got the syrup all over her face.) 

He’d stood back and let her eat her fill. Eventually she began to slow down, and then she started to yawn. Her eyelids began to drop, and she rubbed at them with a fist. Keith knew what that meant well enough. 

“Tired?” 

Solreea never answered, but she didn’t have to. Keith got her cleaned up, and he stepped away for a second to toss the cloth used to clean her face in the dirty laundry. When he came back she was curled up on one end of the sofa and out cold.

She hadn’t moved since. 

Keith cleaned up the kitchen quietly, for lack of anything better to do. He considered moving her to his bed because it was significantly more comfortable, but he didn’t want to wake her. So instead Keith settled for covering her up with a blanket and tucking a pillow under her head. After some consideration, he took the hair tie out too. During the war he would forget to let his hair down before crashing and always woke up with a headache.

For the first time since Keith found her, he found himself left with his thoughts. The realization of what he did hit him like a punch in the face.

_Oh, gods,_ he thought, burying his face in his hands. _I don’t know how to be a parent._

But… there was someone who had a little more experience than he did.

Keith reached for the phone stashed away in his pocket to message her.

——

Krolia was there in a matter of minutes, knocking on the door. When Keith opened it to welcome her in, she was dressed in a tank top and jeans. It reminded him of the flashbacks he saw back on the cosmic whale.

“Mom,” he said. The word felt unfamiliar on his tongue for the longest time, and he was just now starting to get used to saying it.

His Galra mother walked in and surveyed the scene with arms crossed. Solreea still lay curled up on the sofa. She’d moved around in her sleep, and her face was almost completely hidden behind her red hair.

“What race is she?” Krolia asked.

“Didn’t say,” Keith answered. “But her home planet was Eulcaria.” 

“I’ll ask the others to look in on it. We need to know as much as we can. If we accidentally expose her to something—”

Keith interrupted her. “You’re taking this... better than I would have thought,” he said.

Krolia blinked. “Sorry?”

“I dunno. I just figured… you’d be upset. Or tell me to take her somewhere else.”

Sure, Keith turned to his mother for help, but a part of him didn’t think he would actually _get_ it. Everyone knew how Keith was; quick to anger and too emotional. When the rest of the team would eventually find out, he was pretty sure their reactions wouldn’t be as pleasant. 

Krolia studied him with narrowed eyes, like she was trying to figure something out. Eventually she rested one hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. 

“You’re my son, Keith. You piloted the Red Lion, and you lead your team as the Black Paladin when they looked to you. It was the five of you who united galaxies and brought the Empire to its knees. I never would have doubted what you’re capable of for a second. I’m not going to doubt you now, either. I’m going to be here this time.” 

Something was burning behind Keith’s eyes, and it was difficult for him to speak. He blinked rapidly and cleared his throat. 

“T-thanks,” he muttered. “I just don’t want her to go through what I had to.”

And at the end of it, that was the truth. He could put it as poetic and eloquent as he wanted. He could write metaphors for the universe to see and pick apart, but at the heart of things—and Keith had learned a lot about hearts and souls during his time in space—he wanted to save another life from going through the loneliness and the isolation that he had to endure.

Keith had Shiro to pull him out of it. And then he had his friends. He had Krolia. He wanted to do that for Solreea if he could. And that was reason enough for everything. 

“Alright,” his mother said. “Well, first things first. She’s going to need more clothing than just the Garrison uniforms. Those are dreadful.” 

Keith laughed, and then together they started to make plans well into the night. Solreea slept through it all.

Later that night, Iverston stopped by with a folder of paperwork. The first one Keith saw when he opened it up was an adoption form.

——

The briefing room was mostly empty, save for six people down at one end of the table. They were all crowded together, whispering together like it was some sort of top-secret meeting where the fate of the universe was being discussed. 

(In the past, that would probably would have been the reason. But now Keith thought they were all just being overdramatic.) 

It took them a little bit to realize he and Krolia were standing right there, but when they did, they all jumped back like they’d been caught doing something they shouldn’t be. In this case, it was gossiping about him. Even Shiro looked guilty, and that didn’t happen often. 

Keith crossed his arms when he saw the looks they were giving him. “What?” 

Clearing her throat, Pidge pushed up her glasses in that way she always seemed to do. The lenses flashed despite a lack of light in the room. 

“If any of us were going to be parents—emphasis on the _if,_ by the way—I never would’ve thought it’d be you.”

All of a sudden, Keith was choking on his words. And the air. On everything. “I—W—I don’t— _what are you talking about?_ ” 

Lance pushed back his chair and laughed with his hands stretched above his head. “Everyone’s talking about it, you know. You can’t just adopt an alien kid and not expect people to talk about it. What else would you ask us all to meet up here for?”

“Interstellar travel makes everyone an alien at some point,” Keith said tiredly. “I don’t think that phrase is really applicable anymore. And I didn’t adopt her, I just—she didn’t have anywhere else to go. So I took her home.” 

“So you admit to it, then,” Shiro said with a smile.

“Yeah. In other words, you _adopted_ her,” Hunk chipped in. “Or at least, you’re gonna! When can we see her? I wanna meet the new member of Team Voltron!”

At the sound of Hunk’s voice, a little head of red hair poked itself around from behind Krolia’s back. Keith wasn’t sure if Solreea would show herself at all—she really was only comfortable around him and his mother, and hid herself as much as she could right before they walked through the door. Her antennae were standing right up like an intrigued cat, and all six eyes were focused on the Yellow Paladin.

Keith supposed he shouldn’t have been so surprised. It was Hunk, after all, and no one in the universe was safe from his magnetic charisma. 

As soon as Hunk saw her, he gasped and covered his mouth with his hands. 

“Oh my god, she’s the _cutest thing_ I have ever seen in the entire universe.” 

Solreea’s face instantly went dark orange at his words. It was something Keith had never seen before, but he assumed she was probably just blushing; Solreea instantly took cover behind Krolia again at the chorus of cooing coming from his team. 

Keith ignored them and knelt down so that he was closer to her height. “These are my friends,” he said. “You remember the ones I told you about last night?”

Half of Solreea’s face was hidden behind Krolia’s sleeve, but he was barely able to hear a muffled, “The _robot pilots_?” 

He smiled. “Yeah. That’s who all of these guys are. They’re really excited to meet you.”

“Meet _me_?”

That seemed to do the trick. Her fascination with the Voltron Paladins never lessened over the past few days while she and Keith learned how to coexist. If anything, it only increased—living in the same quarters as Red Paladin tended to do that, apparently. She and Keith bonded over his space adventure stories (censored, of course, with Krolia’s help.) All of them were her heroes.

Solreea lifted her four arms up into the air. Keith knew what this meant by now, and he scooped her up into an embrace and held her at his side. Two of her hands gripped the back of his shirt so tightly he almost worried it would rip. But Solreea didn’t notice; her focus was on the people at the briefing table, staring at her with wide, adoring eyes.

“...Hi.”

Lance was beaming. “Hunk was right. She’s even cuter than the Arusians. I could knit her a _thousand_ little sweaters.” 

Keith carried her over to where they were all gathered. He wasn’t even halfway there before Coran seemed to magically teleport right in front of them, twirling his mustache in dramatic thought. 

“Hello, little one,” he greeted her. “My name is Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe! Royal advisor to the Altean family, among many other talents, not excluding super top-secret spy agent when the need arises. But you may simply call me Coran. It’s an honor to meet you.”

It was way too many words for Keith to understand all at once, and he half-expected them to send Solreea ducking for cover again. But to his surprise, she giggled and waved a hand. 

“‘Lo,” she said. “My name’s Solreea.”

Like a true Altean nobleman, Coran shook her hand and kissed it, and the action made her laugh. Keith’s heart swelled.

Coran’s warm introduction seemed to kick everyone else into action. They all gathered around without trying to suffocate her. Each of them shook her hand, told her their names and what Paladin they were, and promised to do various activities. Those mostly included skating in socks down the hallway, baking, and creating a “Roomba but with really cool laser eyes.” 

Solreea said she didn’t know what a Roomba was, but after they made it she would keep it as a pet and feed it plants.

It didn’t take long for her to warm up to them. They told her stories about saving the universe and other adventures in space. She thought the mermaids were fascinating, and wanted to see the Balmera because of the pretty crystals. Shiro let her turn his robotic arm over and inspect it like a doctor, and she said it was magic. 

“There’s more of that in space than you would think,” Allura assured her. From then on Solreea called her a witch, and the Altean princess played the role well and with dignity. She even gave the girl one of her own purple earrings. 

Romelle helped sell the story. “There’s an ancient Altean spell on them. You’ll always have family with you now.”

Out of all of them though, she seemed to attach herself to Hunk. Eventually she began to squirm in Keith’s arms and he set her on the ground. She ran under the table to tug on his sleeve, and Hunk lifted her up and set her on his lap with ease. There she stayed for the rest of the time, fiddling with his headband and tying one end of it at the base of her antennae. 

Keith couldn’t deny that it was adorable. 

Time passed, but none of them bothered to keep an eye on the clocks. The universe was safe, and there was plenty of time to take a break. Nothing was more important to any of them than making her smile. 

“I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on us, man,” Lance said eventually. “She’s been with you for _days_ now, and we’re only just meeting her? That’s selfish.”

There wasn’t any bite to Lance’s words. Keith only chuckled and said, “Sorry. I was just worried she would like you guys more. Guess it happened anyway, though.”

Across the table, Solreea yawned as she wrapped Hunk’s headband around her arm like a mummy.

Krolia glanced down at a device on her wrist. “It’s getting late. Iverson still wants to talk to you about paperwork in the morning.”

He could read enough social cues to know that she was talking about the folder left back in his quarters. With a sigh, Keith stood up from the seat he’d been leaning back in and stretched. “I guess that means it’s bedtime.”

“Dude. You’re twenty and your mom’s seriously telling you—” Pidge started to stay, but Keith cut her off by walking over to ruffle her hair. It was already messy anyway, and didn’t seem to make much of a difference. She stopped talking to duck her head and fix it as best she could.

Solreea looked up as Keith walked over. She held up her arms likes before, and Keith held her to his chest. The orange strip of fabric still dangled in one hand. 

“Yours,” Solreea said simply, waving it in Hunk’s direction. 

He gestured towards her. “Hold onto it for me, ‘kay?” he asked. “You’ll give it good luck and when I see you again, it’ll give me awesome superpowers.” 

Solreea’s response was to ball the headband up in her hand, and she held it tightly like she was afraid of dropping it. “Promise.”

The goodbyes were short and sweet, and comprised mostly of promises to see eachother again the next day. Shiro and Keith talked about taking some hoverbikes out for a ride like they used to. They hugged, or at least as well as they could while Keith had an arm wrapped around Solreea, and the small Kogane family left.

During the short walk back to their living quarters, Keith kept his grip on the little girl tight and his lips pressed against her hair. About halfway there she fell asleep, exhausted by hours of socializing, and he listened to her quiet snores.

He smiled. This would work. It wouldn’t be easy, and he would need a lot of help, but it would work. Keith knew that from the start; the child he held close to himself was never going to be without family again. Neither was he. Keith hadn’t been alone for a long time. 

Tomorrow he would sign the adoption forms that Iverson had waiting for him. Whatever life they built for themselves now, it was going to be a good one.

**Author's Note:**

> There wasn’t much of a reason for this; I just wanted fluff. I love fluff. It’s probably rushed and paced weird, but I didn’t have any idea in mind when I sat down to write this, so... yeah. Enjoy Keith adopting an alien kid


End file.
